Hackintosh BIOS Settings

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When starting to install or configure a Hackintosh, you must begin with Bios configuration, without proper Bios configuration system may reboot, kernel panic or cause some other issues, this guide shows how to configure bios for a Hackintosh

When thinking about configuring BIOS, the configuration depends on the bootloader that is being used, two known boot-loader for Hackintosh are Chameleon and Clover, Chameleon is a BIOS type boot-loader, Clover can be installed as UEFI boot-loader as well as BIOS type boot-loader.

The setting name or menu of settings will not be same as the pictures below, You have to find the settings yourself in your BIOS

HPET Must be set to ON or Enabled in BIOSHPET Mode must be 64-Bit
In case of kernel panic related to HPET use kernel flag ForceHPET=Yes

SATA must be changed as AHCI most latest Chipsets supports SATA mode which is very fast and doesn’t need additional kexts in most cases

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You must change Execute Disable Bit (also known as XD Function to Enabled this is very important if it is disabled system will reboot immediately after loading kernel cache or kexts
set Max CPUID Value Limit as Disabled

without proper USB configurations USB Bootable Volumes, Keyboard mouse, and other USB peripherals may not work
make your Bios reflect the same configuration listed in above image
BIOS EHCI Handoff should be Enabled
set Legacy USB Support as Enabled
in case of USB device detection failure, your OS X installation flash drive will not work and you’ll be left with a continuous message of Still waiting for root device, USBBusFix=Yes may fix it in chameleon

Select your install drive as the first boot option. If you are installing Clover on a UEFI board, there will be two boot options for your USB. Select the one prefixed with UEFI. (I.E UEFI USB flash drive)

CSM must be disabled. [this setting will not exist on non-UEFI installs] Note: this is required for most systems to boot. However, on a system (z77x-ud5h and Evga GTX 660) disabling CSM prevented the graphics card from functioning. First, try to boot with CSM disabled and if this causes issues with your card ( I.E. Your BIOS won’t even be displayed.), then clear the CMOS and proceed with CSM enabled.

SATA mode Selection must be set to AHCI

XHCI must be set to AUTO [this setting may not exist for all boards]

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XHCI hands-off and EHCI hands-off must both be enabled. [this setting may not exist for all boards]

Wake on LAN must be disabled.

Soft-Off by PWR-BTTN set to delay 4 seconds (this is not essential, but it may fix shutoff/reboot issues)